1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a fuel cell vehicle.
Priority is claimed on Japanese Patent Applications No. 2005-200189, No. 2005-200190, and No. 2005-200191 filed Jul. 8, 2005, the contents of which are incorporated herein by reference.
2. Description of Related Art
There has conventionally been proposed a fuel cell vehicle in which the fuel cell stack is mounted in the vehicle cabin (the space for the occupants) to prevent exposure of the fuel cell to dirt and water splash and spray and improve access for maintenance (see, for example, Japanese Unexamined Patent Application, First Publication No. 2004-122971).
However, when the fuel cell stack is thus disposed in the space for the occupants, a partitioning member becomes necessary to isolate the fuel cell stack from the occupant space in order to prevent the occupants from coming into contact with the fuel cell stack. This leads to an increase in the vehicle weight. Also, in the case of a fuel cell vehicle, in addition to ordinary collision safety measures for a vehicle, various measures must be taken to protect the fuel cell stack. When the fuel cell stack is disposed in the vehicle cabin, components of various kinds are required to protect the fuel cell stack, leading to a problem in that the occupant space in the cabin becomes cramped.